Basic Homemade White Bread
Fluffy, soft, buttery, and super easy basic Homemade White Bread with just the right amount of sweetness that tastes way better than store-bought. Get ready to fill your house with that fresh-from-the-oven smell. Go grab the ingredients and bake away!
I bet you’d all agree with me that nothing compares to that distinct fresh-from-the-oven smell wafting in the air. It’s intoxicatingly good and mesmerizing. Agree?
Ever since the day we were told to stay at home, I’ve been baking far more too often just to keep myself busy and as a sort of de-stressing.
And as a huge bread lover myself, I have to make sure I don’t make unnecessary trips outside just for a loaf of bread. That’s why I’m sharing with you today, my foolproof easy homemade bread recipe so you can make it anytime at home. It’s a good base to start with, then just swap with any ingredients to suit your liking.
Homemade Bread Ingredients
Making bread at home totally changed my life! And the fact that it’s cheaper and tastes better than store-bought is a major win for me. Our white bread recipe for today uses 7 simple baking essentials that yield two (2) tall beautiful loaves of bread. And if you don’t have a stand mixer at home, no worries. You can always knead this bread by hand.
Here’s a list of what you’ll be needing for this homemade bread recipe.
- Warm water – for proofing the active dry yeast for about 5 minutes.
- Active dry yeast – if you only have the Instant Dry Yeast, that would be fine. That means that it doesn’t need to be dissolved.
- Milk – To make our loaf softer and richer due to the milk’s fat content.
- Honey – This adds a touch of sweetness to our homemade bread. You may replace it with sugar in the same amount.
- Melted Butter – Adding butter to any baked goods adds a better flavor. If you’re short in butter, feel free to swap it with any cooking oil.
- Salt – Just to balance out the flavor
- Bread Flour – This type of flour has more gluten that makes the dough elastic and light and produces that distinct chewy airy texture when baked.
Recipe Variation
Feel free to add any of the following below for added fun in this base white bread recipe.
- raisins or dried cranberries for an added fruity flavor in your bread
- add some herbs like rosemary, basil, thyme, oregano or even garlic
- cinnamon or allspice and vanilla extract for that added sweetness and aroma
- freshly grated cheese for all you cheese lovers out there.
Can You Use All-Purpose Flour?
Although I prefer using bread flour in making this loaf bread due to its high gluten content, you may use all-purpose flour if that’s what you have on hand.
How Long to Bake Bread?
This white loaf of bread is easy to make. Okay, I know that you’re a little bit hesitant with the yeast, but actually, once you get the hang of it, it’ll be easy.
To make this bread, it’ll need 2 rises – for 1 1/2-2 hours for the initial rise and an additional 30 minutes rise once it is in the pan. Once it rises 1 inch above the pans, you can now pop it in a preheated oven and bake for 30-40 minutes. If browning is too fast, make sure to cover it with foil paper.
How To Store Homemade Bread
This soft, tender and delicious white bread will last up to 4-6 days if stored in an airtight container or bag. If you want to save the bread for later, you may freeze the baked bread in foil or saran wrap and freeze it for up to 1 month. You can also freeze the bread dough after its first rise.
More Bread Recipes
Go bake those worries away and slather this delicious homemade bread with butter, jam or this Homemade Garlic Butter.
How To Make Homemade Bread
Start by combining water and yeast in the stand mixer bowl, using a dough hook. Or if you are making this by hand, add water in a large mixing bowl. Let it sit until dissolve for about 5 minutes. Pour in milk, honey, butter, salt, and stir. Gradually add flour and continue mixing dough on low speed adding just enough flour to form soft dough.
If mixing by hand, remove dough and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 6-8 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the dough. Cover loosely with a clean cloth and let rise in a warm place for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until doubled. Punch the dough down.
Working on a lightly floured surface, divide dough in half. Flatten the dough into a rectangle, then fold a third of the dough on top of itself. Quickly fold the bottom third down so that it overlaps the other layers. Pinch the dough to seal where the layers meet to close it up
Lift dough and place into two greased 9×5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for an additional 30 minutes or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 30-40 minutes. If bread is browning too fast tent with foil paper. You can easily check for doneness by using a thermometer. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the bread should read 195°F to 200°F.
Cool, brush with butter, and enjoy!
Watch How To Make It
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Homemade White Bread
Ingredients
- ½ cup (118.5ml) warm water
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)
- 1 ¾ cup (420ml) milk
- ¼ cup (85g) honey
- ¼ cup (56.75) melted butter
- 3 teaspoons (15g) salt
- 5 ½ - 6 cups (698.5g-762g) bread flour
Instructions
- Start by combining water and yeast in the stand mixer bowl, using a dough hook. Or if you are making this by hand, add water in a large mixing bowl. Let it sit until dissolve for about 5 minutes.
- Pour in milk, honey, butter, salt and stir.
- Gradually add the flour and continue mixing the dough on a low speed adding just enough flour to form soft dough.
- If mixing by hand, remove dough and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 6-8 minutes.
- Place dough in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the dough. Cover loosely with a clean cloth and let it rise in a warm place for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until doubled. Punch the dough down.
- Working on a lightly floured surface, divide dough in half.
- Flatten the dough into a rectangle, then fold a third of the dough on top of itself. Quickly fold the bottom third down so that it overlaps the other layers. Pinch the dough to seal where the layers meet to close it up.
- Lift the dough and place into two greased 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for an additional 30 minutes or until the dough has risen 1 inch above the pans.
- Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 30-40 minutes. If bread is browning too fast, tent with foil paper.
- You can easily check for doneness by using a thermometer. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the bread should read 195°F to 200°F.
- Cool, brush with butter and enjoy!
Tips & Notes:
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
I made it today and my bread came out well. Thank you for sharing this recipe and taking out time to explain step by step procedure.
you’re so welcome! I’m glad the step-by-step guide helped, and it’s wonderful to hear your bread turned out well—happy baking!
Hiya , I tried this recipe but halved the ingredients to make only 1 loaf. I baked it on 150 as my oven is quite fast however after 40/50 mins it was still slightly raw inside and the crust became very hard even after covering it with foil . Any advice ?,
Nevertheless, the taste was still lovely.
Hiya,I love your recipes. I did everything accordingly but felt really sad when I took out the bread and it was raw inside ( I cooked it for a further 20mins and covered it with tin foil but the crust became too hard and the inside still wasn’t done. This is the 2nd time I’ve attempted to make bread and the first time I used another recipe and the same thing always happened.i feel very demotivated. I get anxious to cut through the loaf because I expect to see raw dough which always happens ( any advice.
Btw I put the temperature down to 150 because my oven is quite fast.
Can l use brown flour instead of white as l don’t eat white bread? Will l have to adjust any of the other ingredients to make a brown loaf? Thank you
Hi Lisa,
Yes, you can use brown flour instead of white flour to make bread, but there are some adjustments you might need to make. Brown flour, often known as whole wheat flour, is more nutritious than white flour but has different baking properties. Here are some considerations:
Hydration: Whole wheat flour absorbs more liquid than white flour. You might need to add more water or liquid to the dough to achieve the right consistency.
Gluten Development: Whole wheat flour has less gluten-forming potential than white flour, which can result in a denser loaf. You may want to knead the dough a bit longer to develop enough gluten. Alternatively, adding vital wheat gluten can help improve the structure and rise of the bread.
Flavor and Sweetness: Whole wheat flour has a nuttier, more robust flavor. You might want to adjust the amount of sweeteners or other flavorings in your recipe accordingly.
Leavening Adjustment: Sometimes, whole wheat breads require more yeast to help the denser dough rise. You will have to add about a teaspoon more yeast .
Resting Time: Whole wheat doughs often benefit from longer resting times to allow the bran and germ in the flour to fully hydrate and soften.
Baking Time and Temperature: These might need slight adjustments. Whole wheat breads sometimes take a bit longer to bake, but be careful not to overbake as they can dry out faster.
Remember, the exact adjustments depend on the specific recipe you are using. It’s always a good idea to start with a recipe specifically designed for whole wheat bread, especially if you’re new to baking with whole wheat flour.
Delicious. My mom always baked her own bread and I have followed in her footsteps. This was a different and really easy recipe to make. I like the idea of using honey as opposed to sugar. The bread took a bit longer to rise, but that was not a problem. Homemade recipes require patience. The only change I made was to double the butter and the honey. But that is a personal preference. The recipe is a keeper!
Amazing!!!!! That looks absolutely delicious!! Glad you loved it. Looking forward to you trying more of my recipes.
Delicious
Oh great to hear that. Thank you so much!
I love this recipe. It’s the only success I’ve had making homemade bread from scratch. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Yayy, Thank you for trying my recipe and sharing your precious words about your experience.
Best white bread recipe I have ever made! Second time I made this. I prefer making this without the use of a mixer. Thank you for the awesome recipe!
Woohoo! I’m glad that this suits your taste. This is indeed a keeper. 🙂 Thank you for sharing your feedback.
Turned out great. Thank you!